This post is a bit disjointed, but maybe it will make some sense. About 18 months ago I cancelled my cable TV subscription. I was thoroughly fed up with paying significant amounts of money each month to watch commercials. It was a sort of double dipping -but turned upside down and inside out! Here I pay for a service, and I am presented with complete rubbish that others have paid to put in front of me. What sounds wrong with that model? Well, I decided I was too smart to be deceived any longer. Whether I was smart or not, I couldn’t stand the commercials no matter what. To counter some...

“Meeting Rod is like slugging a double espresso – as Jill shows me into his office, I am met by a whirlwind of energy and a big smile. Rod makes me feel instantly welcome and as we chat about the weather (his office overlooks the Cascade neighborhood and the emerging vibrancy of South Lake Union with a gorgeous view of the Olympic Mountains on an uncannily sunny February day) we start out on common ground. Since it is my prerogative, as the interviewer, I soon ask Rod to share a bit about his early career…” That is how my interview article with Rod Brooks starts. Read the first of three...

Today I have consumed three articles that made strong impression with me. I will continue to ponder them. Wikipedia on Demand Media in the world of social media; The way Demand Media is portrayed makes me think about operations at the fringe of moral acceptance. It seems Demand Media is the ultimate capitalist force able to wring cheap work out of the masses to create riches for its share holders, except it doesn’t have any share holders yet since its IPO is delayed due to some questionable circumstances. I am left with a feeling that content creation, that includes journalism, is held...

Large corporations carry big burdens causing them to break their customer relationships over and over again. This first post in the series “When Social Media go Wrong” explores how the transition from “traditional” marketing to using social media marketing will backfire in organizations that are not ready to truly embrace the expectations that come with it. Imagine a small product group in a large enterprise, they are just about to bring a new product to market and they want to do the “right thing” – they want to connect with the customers, listen to their feedback and engage in a...

“In 2005, nonprofit organizations employed 12.9 million individuals, or approximately 9.7 percent of the U.S. economy – more than the financial activities sector employed at that time. And in 2008, nonprofits’ total revenue was $307.65 billion”The Networked Nonprofit, by Beth Kanter and Allison H. Fine I recently started engaging several nonprofit organizations and I felt the need to learn more about them. When I found the book The Networked Nonprofit, by Beth Kanter and Allison H. Fine, I jumped on it. The book started by painting a surprising picture, but when I got to the second chapter...